Upsizing buyers drove demand in Canada’s housing market this spring: Re/Max

Canadians who needed to upsize their home took advantage of the pause in interest rate hikes earlier this year, driving up sales activity in most markets, Re/Max says.

Buyers looking to upsize their homes drove the surge of housing activity between interest rate hikes in the first half of the year, according to a new report from Re/Max Canada.

The housing correction across most markets hit its “trough” in January, according to Re/Max president Christopher Alexander, as the Bank of Canada paused its interest rate hike cycle before resuming again in June and July.

That period of stability for interest rates “opened the floodgates” for buyers, Alexander said in a statement accompanying Re/Max’s second quarter review.

A lack of properties on the market during that time, however, meant these buyers were competing for limited listings, and prices in many markets began to climb again after months of declines.

Markets such as the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton, Montreal and Winnipeg all saw prices rise by double-digits between January and June of this year, according to Re/Max. Relatively affordable Regina saw prices balloon by 20 per cent over that timeframe.

Who were the buyers fuelling a fervent spring market? Re/Max pointed to established owners looking to move up.

Despite the erosion in home values over much of the past year, Re/Max found that in each of the nine large markets it tracked, homeowners on average saw sizeable jumps in equity over the past five years.

That’s given sellers in 2023 a chance to upsize their homes, according to Re/Max, especially among those who had held off making a move during the housing correction. Growing families as well as needing to adjust to new work-life arrangements were primary drivers of demand in the spring, the brokerage said.